Time and Place When and Where the Epistle Was Written

Christian antiquity not without reason has handed down to us that the second epistle was written after the first—and the content of the epistle irresistibly stamps upon one the conviction of this. Nevertheless, certain individuals have ventured a conjecture that the second epistle was written before the first. How much weight this conjecture carries can be judged by the grounds on which they seek to establish it. One, for example, says: in verse 17 of chapter 3 of the second epistle, in the words “thus I write”, (2 Thess. 3:17), a mark is indicated by which the genuine epistles of the holy Paul were to be distinguished from spurious ones; and such an indication would be appropriate in a first epistle, not a second. But this mark was indicated by the holy Paul for the reason that an attempt had been made to circulate under his name letters not his own (2 Thess. 2:2), and such an attempt necessarily presupposes the existence of at least one genuine epistle—which was precisely the first. Moreover, the Apostle himself in this second epistle gives notice that one of his epistles had already been in the hands of the Thessalonians when he says: “hold fast to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15). For this reason the second epistle can in no way be counted as the first. Another seemed to think that the very content of the second epistle might suggest that it was written before the first. Setting aside his representations to that effect, we remind everyone that it is precisely the content of the second epistle that most tangibly demonstrates that it was written after the first—as a supplement to it, as a further elucidation and more precise definition of certain matters contained therein. Whereas in the first epistle there is merely a mention of how and amid what circumstances the Thessalonians received the Christian faith, in the second their progress in Christianity is spoken of—the exceeding growth of their faith and the multiplication of their love (2 Thess. 1:3). Whereas in the first epistle the unexpectedness of the Lord’s appearing is spoken of, and the consequent necessity of always being ready to meet Him, since the time of His coming is unknown, in the second the false inference therefrom—that the Day of the Lord is already at hand—is refuted, thereby defining the indefinable time (chapter 2). Whereas in the first epistle only the general rule of a quiet, peaceful, and industrious life was stated (1 Thess. 4:10 and following), in the second the contrary conduct of certain individuals is at length exposed (2 Thess. 3:6–16). Furthermore, when the holy Paul says in the second epistle: “we entreat you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord and our gathering together to Him, not to be soon shaken” “in mind” (2 Thess. 2:1, 2), without any explanation of what “our gathering together to Him” means—one must conclude that he did so because this gathering had already been described precisely elsewhere; and it was described in the first epistle—(1 Thess. 4:16).

Thus by every indication the second epistle to the Thessalonians was written not before, but after the first, as has always been accepted by all. When precisely? — Not long after the first, in the same year, while the holy Paul was still in Corinth, and probably toward the end of his stay there. That the holy Paul was at that time still in Corinth is evident from the fact that in the salutation of this epistle he places alongside himself his travelling companions—Silvanus and Timothy—and both of them were with him together only in Corinth. After the holy Paul’s departure from that city, the holy Timothy is found with him in Ephesus (Acts 19:22); but of the holy Silvanus there is no further mention thereafter as a companion of the holy Paul. It is therefore impossible to assign the writing of the second epistle to the Thessalonians to any time after the holy Paul’s stay in Corinth, or to any place other than Corinth. That it was written toward the end of the holy Paul’s stay in Corinth may be inferred from the fact that in it (2 Thess. 3:2) the Apostle asks for prayer for his deliverance from evil and wicked men—hinting, presumably, at the uprising against him in Corinth (Acts 18:12–17); and this occurred toward the end of his stay there (Acts 18:18). Thus, if the first epistle was written in the year 54, there is no reason to assign the writing of the second to any time later than that year.